Rain halts Nadal and Djokovic

DAY 15: The Roland Garros men’s singles final is scheduled to resume on Monday after rain caused play to be suspended on Sunday with Rafael Nadal leading Novak Djokovic 64 63 26 1-2.

The final was shaping up to be a classic after Nadal raced into a two sets lead and a further break advantage in the third, only for Djokovic to claw his way back into the match by reeling off eight straight games during a devastating spell before wet weather brought a halt to proceedings.

The final is now perfectly poised heading into Monday with Djokovic having a break advantage in the fourth set. Play is scheduled to resume on Court Philippe Chatrier in Paris at 1pm (11am GMT), although the forecast indicates that more rain could be on the way.

Nadal, who is chasing a record breaking seventh Roland Garros title, flew out of the blocks to take a 3-0 lead in the first set with two breaks of serve, but Djokovic responded with two breaks of his own to level at 3-3. However, the Serb threw away his next service game with a double fault and Nadal took advantage to close out the set 6-4 in 58 minutes.

After exchanging early breaks in the second set, it was the seventh game that again proved pivotal as Nadal broke to take a 4-3 lead. After holding his next serve, the steady drizzle that had been present for much of the match turned into rain and play was suspended for the first time. The players returned over half an hour later and Nadal immediately broke to win the set 6-3 in 56 minutes.

The world No. 2 continued the momentum into the third set and, just like he had in the previous two sets, broke Djokovic’s opening service game to take a 2-0 lead. At this point Nadal looked like he was well on his way to victory, but the world No. 1 doesn’t know when he’s beaten and in an astonishing comeback won six straight games to clinch the set 6-2 in 45 minutes.

Djokovic continued this run into the fourth set and opened up a 2-0 lead, but Nadal finally stopped the rot in the third game before the match succumbed to the rain once again with 2 hours 59 minutes on the match clock. This time there was no respite and the match was called off until Monday when the world’s two best players will resume battle.

Nadal is just five games away from entering tennis history books for his Roland Garros title haul, but Djokovic is also chasing a significant record of his own. Not since Rod Laver in 1969 has any man held all four major trophies at the same time. Djokovic is closing in on the ‘Novak Slam’.

Follow all action from Paris on the official tournament website: RolandGarros.com